Weight Changes

SweetPeasFriend

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Jun 25, 2012
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Parent's have, I baby sit a blue crown conure.
My husband and I adopted a rescue blue and gold macaw.
I have a 20+ years old blue and gold macaw. She is a rescue that we got about two months ago. She has been to the vet once (exotics vet), but we were unable to get her weight or do a blood draw. We are going back in two weeks, and it shouldn't be a problem. We have been practicing with her targeting, stepping up, being wrapped in a towel (She adores that and now says, "towel."), and I weigh her frequently.
I leave for work just around sunrise or before, and just get to say morning, open her curtains in her aviary room, and maybe drop an organtic blueberry in a dish. My husband is on morning duty, feeding her fresh veggies, playing, target training, etc.
She seems to be more comfortable with women, so she has stepped up for me mostly all along, but only started stepping up for him in the last few days.
This means I weigh her in the late afternoon or early evening when I get home.
Her weight has varied between 1101 and 1109 grams.
How much can it safely vary?
She is on a pellet diet, with fresh veggies, fresh fruit treats, and pieces of nuts for training.
The hubby also hides nuts throught her aviary, so some days she finds, some days not so much.
She has a large cage, 6'x6' and over 6.5' tall. She gets out to a playstand about once a week. We have a cat, so we restrict kitty from the floor she is out. She can have the whole upstairs or downstairs, etc. We are both home when this occurs for ease of pet safety. She plays and runs and climbs regularly, flaps wings, but doesn't really fly so far.
Good on weight?
 
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Laurasea

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Aug 2, 2018
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That is well within normal variation for your gigantic baby!
I have read 3-5% weight-loss need a vet visit, any thing higher is a sick bird

You take weight lost ÷ normal × 100

What you describe is less than 1% thats fine

For my little babies a few grams is 10% loss of body mass a big deal lol
Right now my sick one is at 66 normal is 74
So thats over 10 % weight-loss

Congratulations on your macaw sounds like you are doing so great as a family
 
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wrench13

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Weight sounds OK. FOr me, my lil 'zon weighs 320. If he goes below 310, he gets a vet visit. On a daily basis, he weighs 320-315 depending on if he was a hog at dinner.
 

SailBoat

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Jul 10, 2015
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Weights that occur later afternoon or evening will have variation to them as the Parrot will have different amounts of food in its digestive track. The goal is first thing in the morning after the major dump and prior to fresh food and water. This assures an empty Parrot and as a result a more consistent weight. You can take late day weights like you are doing, just understand that their will always be variations.

You should be working on more time out of the cage as they need to more active than a large cage can provide.

With both of you working with your Mac separately, it should serve as a great way to socialize your Mac. Just remember to both of you using the same methods and words.
 

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